Alost city is anurbansettlement that fell into terminal decline and became extensively or completely uninhabited, with the consequence that the site's former significance was no longer known to the wider world. The locations of many lost cities have been forgotten, but some have been rediscovered and studied extensively by scientists. Recently abandoned cities or cities whose location was never in question might be referred to asruins orghost towns. Smaller settlements may be referred to asabandoned villages. The search for such lost cities by Europeanexplorers and adventurers in Africa, the Americas, and Southeast Asia from the 15th century onward eventually led to the development ofarchaeology.[1]
Lostcities generally fall into two broad categories: those where all knowledge of the city's existence was forgotten before it was rediscovered, and those whose memory was preserved in myth, legend, or historical records but whose location was lost or at least no longer widely recognized.
Cities may become lost for a variety of reasons including natural disasters, economic or social upheaval, or war.[2]
TheIncan capital city ofVilcabamba was destroyed and depopulated during theSpanishconquest of Peru in 1572. The Spanish did not rebuild the city, and the location went unrecorded and was forgotten until it was rediscovered through a detailed examination of period letters and documents.[3]
Troy was a city located in northwestAnatolia in what is now Turkey. It is best known for being the focus of theTrojan War described in the Greek Epic Cycle and especially in theIliad, one of the two epic poems attributed toHomer. Repeatedly destroyed and rebuilt, the city slowly declined and was abandoned in theByzantine era. Buried by time, the city was consigned to the realm of legend until the location was first excavated in the 1860s.[4]
Other settlements are lost with few or no clues to their abandonment. For example,Malden Island, in thecentral Pacific, was deserted when first visited byEuropeans in 1825, but the remains of temples and other structures on the island indicate that a population ofPolynesians had lived there for perhaps several generations in the past. Typically this lack of information is due to no surviving written ororal histories and a lack of archaeological data as in the case of the remote and fairly unknown Malden Island.
With the development of archaeology and the application of modern techniques, many previously lost cities have been rediscovered.
Machu Picchu is apre-ColumbianInca site situated on a mountain ridge above theUrubamba Valley in Peru. Often referred to as the "Lost City of the Incas", it is perhaps the most familiar icon of the Inca World. Machu Picchu was built around 1450, at the height of the Inca Empire. It was abandoned just over 100 years later, in 1572, as a belated result of theSpanish Conquest. It is possible that most of its inhabitants died fromsmallpox introduced by travelers before the Spanish conquistadors arrived in the area. In 1911, Melchor Arteaga led the explorerHiram Bingham to Machu Picchu, which had been largely forgotten by everybody except the small number of people living in the immediate valley.[5] Nevertheless, Peruvian explorer and farmerAgustín Lizárraga predated this discovery by 9 years, having found the Inca site on 14 July 1902. He left a charcoal inscription bearing the words "A. Lizárraga 1902".[6]
Helike was an ancient Greek city that sank at night in the winter of 373 BCE. The city was located inAchaea, NorthernPeloponnesos, two kilometres (12 stadia) from theCorinthian Gulf. The city was thought to be legend until 2001, when it was rediscovered in the Helike Delta. In 1988, the Greek archaeologist Dora Katsonopoulou launched the Helike Project to locate the site of the lost city. In 1994, in collaboration with theUniversity of Patras, amagnetometer survey was carried out in the midplain of the delta, which revealed the outlines of a buried building. In 1995, this target was excavated (now known as the Klonis site), and a large Roman building with standing walls was brought to light.[7][8]
Carthage – initially aPhoenician city inTunisia, destroyed and then rebuilt by Rome. Later served as the capital of theVandal Kingdom of North Africa, before being destroyed by the Arabs after its capture in 697 CE. Now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Dougga,Tunisia – Roman city located in present-day Tunisia. Now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Leptis Magna –Roman city located in present-dayLibya. It was the birthplace of EmperorSeptimius Severus, who lavished an extensive public works program on the city, including diverting the course of a nearby river. The river later returned to its original course, burying much of the city in silt and sand. Now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Timgad,Algeria – Roman city founded by the emperor Trajan around 100 CE, covered by sand in the 7th century. Now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Ma-i,Philippines – was a sovereign polity that pre-dated the Hispanic establishment of the Philippines and notable for having established trade relations with the Kingdom of Brunei, and with Song and Ming dynasty China. Its existence was recorded both in the Chinese Imperial annals Zhu Fan Zhi (諸番志) and History of Song.
Perperikon – the megalith complex had been laid in ruins and re-erected many times in history – from the Bronze Age until Middle Ages.
Seuthopolis – an ancient Thracian city, discovered and excavated in 1948. It was founded by kingSeuthes III around 325 BC. Its ruins are now located at the bottom of theKoprinka Reservoir near the city ofKazanlak.
Damasia – An ancient hill-top settlement on theLech, of the Licates, a tribe of the CelticVindelici. Commonly identified with either theAuerberg or pre-RomanAugsburg. According to folklore, sunken into theAmmersee.
Pavlopetri – underwater off the coast of southern Laconia inPeloponnese, is about 5,000 years old, and is the oldest submerged archaeological town site.
Sybaris,Italy – ancient Greek colonial city of unsurpassed wealth utterly destroyed by its arch-rivalCrotona in 510 BC.
Tripergole – ancient Roman spa village on the eastern shores of theLucrine Lake in theCampi Flegrei. The village and most of the lake were buried bytephra in 1538 during the volcanic eruption that createdMonte Nuovo. The exact location of the village and its associated hot springs can no longer be identified.
Kaupang – In Viksfjord nearLarvik,Norway. Largest trading city around theOslo Fjord during theViking age. As sea levels retreated (the shoreline is 7m lower today than in 1000) the city was no longer accessible from the ocean and was abandoned.
Ilimsk – a small town inSiberia. Flooded by the Ust-Ilimsk Reservoir in the mid-1970s.
Kitezh – mythical city beneath the waters in centralRussia.
Mangazeya – a trading colony on thePomors'Northern Sea Route, was abandoned in the 17th century after the Northern Sea Route was banned. Mangazeya was considered lost until it was re-discovered by archaeologists in 1967.[16]
Amaya – either the capital or one of the most important cities of theCantabri. Probably located in what nowadays is called "Amaya Peak" inBurgos, northernSpain.
Cypsela – drowned Ibero-Greek settlement in the Catalan shore, Spain. Mentioned by Greek, Roman and Medieval chroniclers.
Reccopolis – one of the capital cities founded in Hispania by theVisigoths. The site was incrementally abandoned in the 10th century.
Tartessos – a harbor city or an economical complex of small harbors and trade routes set on the mouth of the Guadalquivir river, in modern Andalusia, Spain. Tartessos is believed to be either the seat of an independent kingdom or a community of palatial cities devoted to exporting the mineral resources of the Hispanic mainland to the sea, to meet the Phoenician and Greek traders. Its destruction is still a matter of debate among historians, and one modern tendency tends to believe that Tartessos was never a city, but a culture complex.
L'Anse aux Meadows – Viking settlement founded in 1021 AD. Now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Lost Villages – The Lost Villages are ten communities (Aultsville, Dickinson's Landing, Farran's Point, Maple Grove, Mille Roches, Moulinette, Santa Cruz, Sheek's Island, Wales, Woodlands) in the Canadian province of Ontario, in the former townships of Cornwall and Osnabruck (now South Stormont) near Cornwall, which were permanently submerged by the creation of theSt. Lawrence Seaway in 1958.
Copán – In modernHonduras. Now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Naachtun – Rediscovered in 1922, it remains one of the most remote and least visited Maya sites. Located 44 km (27 miles) south-south-east of Calakmul, and 65 km (40 miles) north of Tikal, it is believed to have had strategic importance to, and been vulnerable to military attacks by, both neighbours. Its ancient name was identified in the mid-1990s asMasuul.
Palenque – in the Mexican state ofChiapas, known for its beautiful art and architecture. Now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Tikal – One of two major powers in the classic Maya period. Now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Izapa – Chief city of theIzapa civilization, whose territory extended from the Gulf Coast across to the Pacific Coast ofChiapas, in present-dayMexico, andGuatemala.
Guayabo – In Costa Rica. It is believed that the site was inhabited from 1500 BCE to 1400 CE, and had at its peak a population of around 10,000.
Ajacán Mission – an attempt by Spain to found a mission in Virginia in the mid-16th century. The entire party of 30 was massacred by Native Americans in February 1571. Only one survivor was left.
Cahokia – Located near present-daySt. Louis, Missouri. At its height Cahokia is believed to have had a population of between 40,000 and 80,000 people, making it amongst the largestPre-Columbian cities of the Americas. It is known chiefly for its huge pyramidal mounds of compacted earth. Now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Aztlán – the ancestral homeland in Aztec mythology
Ciudad de los Cesares (City of the Caesars, also variously known as City of Patagonia, Elelín, Lin Lin, Trapalanda, Trapananda, or Wandering City) – a legendary city inPatagonia, never found
Dvārakā – An ancient city ofKrishna, submerged in the sea.
Kitezh,Russia – legendary underwater city which supposedly may be seen in good weather
Lemuria – An ancient, now sunken, land in the Pacific Ocean
Libertatia,Madagascar – (Also known as Libertalia) was apirate colony founded in the 17th century by pirate Captain James Misson (occasionally spelled "Mission") that is still disputed by historians today.
Vineta – legendary city somewhere at theBaltic coast of Germany orPoland
Ys – legendary city on the western coast of France
That some cities are considered legendary does not mean they did not in fact exist. Some that were once considered legendary are now known to have existed, such asTroy andBjarmaland.
Opar – from theTarzan novels byEdgar Rice Burroughs (named for his long-time hometown ofOak Park, Illinois); the series features several such lost cities, but Opar is the one which appears most often
R'lyeh – sunken city referenced in many of the works ofH. P. Lovecraft, where the godlike beingCthulhu is buried
^Heaney, Christopher (2011).Cradle of gold: the story of Hiram Bingham, a real-life Indiana Jones and the search for Machu Picchu. New York: MacMillan.ISBN978-0-230-11204-9.
^Alvarez-Zarikian, Carlos A.; Soter, Steven; Katsonopoulou, Dora (2008). "Recurrent Submergence and Uplift in the Area of Ancient Helike, Gulf of Corinth, Greece: Microfaunal and Archaeological Evidence".Journal of Coastal Research.24 (1A):110–125.doi:10.2112/05-0454.1.JSTOR30133726.S2CID140202998.
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